UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma absolutely hates whatever the hell it is those so-called “men” are playing whenever they step on a basketball court.
“I think the [men’s college basketball] game is a joke,” Auriemma said during a conference call on Wednesday. “It really is. I don't coach it. I don't play it, so I don't understand all the ins and outs of it. But as a spectator, forget that I'm a coach, as a spectator, watching it, it's a joke. There's only like ten teams, you know, out of 25, that actually play the kind of game of basketball that you'd like to watch.”
“And the bottom line is that nobody can score, and they'll tell you it's because of great defense, great scouting, a lot of team work, nonsense, nonsense,” he added, amazingly. “College men's basketball is so far behind the times it's unbelievable. I mean women's basketball is behind the times. Men's basketball is even further behind the times.”
“We're fighting for the entertainment dollar, here, and I have to tell you it's not entertainment from a fan's standpoint,” he added later.
Auriemma is about as close to it gets to a coaching legend. UConn’s women’s team has won nine national titles under his tutelage, and the team is back in the Final Four again this year. In other words, when he’s talking, it’s worth listening.
Here’s the question and answer in its entirety, transcribed by ASAP Sports:
Q: You've read a lot about the state of the men's college game this year, that the game is not as fluid, efficient, exciting, well played as it has been in years past. There's many reasons people would surmise that from more freshman, sophomores playing than juniors and seniors. I know you are obviously an authority on the women's game and your team. But you're a basketball coach and a basketball fan, so you see a lot of men's college basketball. What has been your thought about where you see the state of the men's game is right now?
A: It's funny, you asked me that, I just had a conversation with Phil Martelli yesterday and I think he's the president on the ABC board of directors or whatever.
And we had this conversation and we talked a lot about where the game is and what the future of the game is. And obviously it's immensely popular. You look at the interest paid on the NCAA tournament. I don't know that it's as immensely popular during the regular season as it used to be, but obviously the tournament is just at another world when it comes to that.
Having said that, I think the game is a joke. It really is. I don't coach it. I don't play it, so I don't understand all the ins and outs of it. But as a spectator, forget that I'm a coach, as a spectator, watching it, it's a joke. There's only like ten teams, you know, out of 25, that actually play the kind of game of basketball that you'd like to watch. Every coach will tell you that there's 90 million reasons for it.
And the bottom line is that nobody can score, and they'll tell you it's because of great defense, great scouting, a lot of team work, nonsense, nonsense. College men's basketball is so far behind the times it's unbelievable. I mean women's basketball is behind the times. Men's basketball is even further behind the times. Every other major sport in the world has taken steps to help people be better on the offensive end of the floor. They've moved in the fences in baseball, they lowered the mound. They made the strike zone so you need a straw to put through it. And in the NFL you touch a guy it's a penalty. You hit the quarterback, you're out for life. You know, in the NBA, you touch somebody in the perimeter, you whack guys like they used to do when scores were 90 to 75, they changed the rules.
This is entertainment we're talking about. People have to decide, do I want to play 25 bucks, 30 bucks to go see a college scrum where everybody misses six out of every ten shots they take, or do I want to go to a movie? We're fighting for the entertainment dollar, here, and I have to tell you it's not entertainment from a fan's standpoint.
So that's just ‑‑ I'm talking as a fan, not as Geno, Auriemma, the basketball coach.
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